What Makes Good Cover Art?

What makes good cover art? Well, that depends a lot upon whom you ask. I’d advise against asking me: if there’s one thing I’ve learned as an Indie Publisher, it’s that I have absolutely no talent whatsoever when it comes to art. I’d show you some of the stuff I drew as a kid, only I don’t want to scare you.

So what’s a talentless, artless writer to do? Commission a cover, of course. I looked through a LOT of premade covers when I was ready to publish A Time-Traveller’s Best Friend, and was fortunate enough to come across one created by Margo Weissman that was exactly what I wanted.

Ain’t it purty?

I wasn’t so lucky when it came to covers for my Two Monarchies Sequence. At the time, I had three books in the sequence almost ready to go: Masque, which was ready but for an…